JUSTICE LEAGUE (CARMELA SIENES)
Justice League is a 2017 American superhero film based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the follow-up to 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the fifth installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).567 The film is directed by Zack Snyder, written by Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon, and features an ensemble castthat includes Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, and Ray Fisher as the titular team, with Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, and J. K. Simmons in supporting roles. In the film, Batman and Wonder Woman recruit The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg after Superman's death to save the world from the catastrophic threat of Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons. The film was announced in October 2014, with Snyder on board to direct and Terrio attached to write the script. Initially titled Justice League Part One, with a second part to follow in 2019, the second film was indefinitely delayed to accommodate a standalone Batman film with Affleck. Principal photography commenced in April 2016 and ended in October 2016. After Snyder stepped down to deal with the death of his daughter, Joss Whedon was hired to oversee the remainder of post-production, including directing additional scenes written by himself; Snyder retained full directorial credit. Justice League premiered in Beijing on October 26, 2017, and was released in the United States in 2D, Real D 3D, and IMAX on November 17, 2017. With an estimated production budget of $300 million, Justice League is one of the most expensive films ever made. The film grossed over $657 million worldwide, making it the lowest overall gross of the DCEU. The film received mixed reviews from critics; the action sequences and acting (particularly that of Gadot and Miller) were praised, while the plot, screenplay, pacing, villain, and overuse of CGI were criticized. The film's tone was met with a polarized reception, with some appreciating the lighter tone compared to the previous DCEU films, and others finding it inconsistent. Plot Thousands of years ago, Steppenwolf and his legions of Parademons attempted to take over Earth with the combined energies of three Mother Boxes. They were foiled by a unified army that includes the Olympian Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, mankind and a Green Lantern. After repelling Steppenwolf's army, the Mother Boxes were separated and hidden in locations on the planet. In the present, mankind is in mourning over Superman, whose death triggers the Mother Boxes to reactivate and Steppenwolf's return to Earth. In an effort to regain favor with his master, Darkseid, Steppenwolf aims to gather the boxes to form "The Unity", which will destroy Earth's ecology and terraform it in the image of Steppenwolf's homeworld. Steppenwolf retrieves the Mother Box from Themyscira, prompting Queen Hippolyta to warn her daughter Diana of Steppenwolf's return. Diana joins Bruce Wayne in his attempt to unite other metahumans to their cause, with Wayne going after Arthur Curry and Barry Allen, while Diana tries to locate Victor Stone. Wayne fails to persuade Curry, but manages to recruit an enthusiastic Allen onto the team. Although Diana fails to convince Stone to join, he agrees to help them locate the threat if he discovers their location. Stone later joins the team after his father Silas and several other S.T.A.R. Labs employees are kidnapped by Steppenwolf seeking to acquire the Mother Box from mankind. Steppenwolf attacks Atlantis to retrieve the next Mother Box, forcing Curry into action. The team receives intel from Commissioner James Gordon leading them to Steppenwolf's army, based in an abandoned facility under Gotham Harbor. Although the group manages to rescue the kidnapped employees, the facility is flooded during combat, which traps the team until Curry helps delay the flood so they can escape. Stone retrieves the last Mother Box, which he had hidden, for the group to analyze. Stone reveals that his father used the Mother Box to rebuild Stone's body after an accident almost cost him his life. Wayne decides to use the Mother Box to resurrect Superman, not only to help them fight off Steppenwolf's invasion, but also to restore hope to mankind. Diana and Curry are hesitant about the idea, but Wayne forms a secret contingency plan in case Superman returns as hostile. Clark Kent's body is exhumed and placed in the amniotic fluid of the genesis chamber of the Kryptonian ship alongside the Mother Box, which in turn activates and successfully resurrects Superman. However, Superman's memories have not returned, and he attacks the group after Stone accidentally launches a projectile at him. On the verge of being killed by Superman, Batman enacts his contingency plan: Lois Lane. Superman calms down and leaves with Lane to his family home in Smallville, where he reflects and his memories slowly come back. In the turmoil, the last Mother Box is left unguarded and Steppenwolf retrieves it with ease. Without Superman to aid them, the five heroes travel to a village in Russia where Steppenwolf aims to unite the Mother Boxes once again to remake Earth. The team fights their way through the Parademons to reach Steppenwolf, although they are unable to distract him enough for Stone to separate the Mother boxes. Superman arrives and assists Allen in evacuating the city, as well as Stone in separating the Mother Boxes. The team defeats Steppenwolf, who, overcome with fear, is attacked by his own Parademons before they all teleport away. After the battle, Bruce and Diana agree to set up a base of operations for the team, with room for more members. Diana steps back into the public spotlight as a hero; Barry acquires a job in Central City's police department, impressing his father; Victor continues to explore and enhance his abilities with his father in S.T.A.R. Labs; Arthur returns to Atlantis; and Superman resumes his life as reporter Clark Kent. In a post-credits scene, Lex Luthor escapes from Arkham Asylum and then recruits Slade Wilson to form their own league. Cast Ben Affleck, Ezra Miller, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher and Jason Momoa at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con. * Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A wealthy socialite, and the owner of Wayne Enterprises. He dedicates himself to protecting Gotham City from its criminal underworld as a highly trained, masked vigilante equipped with various tools and weapons. Affleck noted on how the film gave him an opportunity to reinvent Batman and portray a more classic take on the character. He described that in the film, audiences will see Batman as more heroic, and more of a leader. "Batman is by nature, while not necessarily anti-social, pretty private, pretty a loner," Affleck says. "And then in this movie he’s thrust into the role of having to not only work with people, but bring them together and convince them to come in and try to… somehow with Wonder Woman hold all that community effort together. That was a really interesting thing to play for me, and it also does take us to a more traditional role for Batman in the Justice League comics, and his role with the Justice League versus the sort of less typical version we saw in Batman v Superman, where he was blinded by rage and wanted to take on Superman."1011 * Henry Cavill as Clark Kent / Superman: A member of, and inspiration for, the Justice League. He is a Kryptonian survivor, and a journalist for the Daily Planet based in Metropolis. In Justice League, Superman was portrayed as more optimistic and hopeful. The character was intentionally excluded from all Justice League marketing materials to emphasize his death as depicted on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.12 * Amy Adams as Lois Lane: An undaunted and compassionate award-winning journalist for the Daily Planet and the love interest for Kent.13 Adams confirmed that she would reprise her role as Lois Lane in Justice League and its untitled sequel.1415 * Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman: An antiquities dealer, acquaintance of Wayne, and an immortal Amazonian warrior, who is the crown princess of Themyscira and daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus. She is endowed with metahuman attributes and abilities inherited from her parents. * Ezra Miller as Barry Allen / The Flash: A Central City University student, who can move at superhuman speeds with his ability to tap into the Speed Force. * Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry / Aquaman: The heir to the throne of the undersea nation of Atlantis.16 His metahuman aquatic abilities and physical attributes originate from his Atlantean physiology. Momoa was cast as Aquaman in October 2014, and made a cameo role in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.1718 Momoa stated that the Justice League film would be released first, before the release of the solo Aquaman film, which may be about the hero's origin story.19 * Ray Fisher as Victor Stone / Cyborg: A former college athlete who, after being cybernetically reconstructed after a nearly fatal car accident, is turned into a techno-organic being enhanced by reactive, adaptive biomimetic alien technology. His enhancements include the abilities of flight, variable weaponry and technopathy. Fisher portrays the character through the use of motion capturefor the cybernetic portion of his body.20 Fisher was cast as Cyborg in April 2014, and made a cameo in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.2122 * Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth: Wayne's butler, chief of security, and trusted confidant.23 * Diane Lane as Martha Kent: Kent's adoptive mother.132425 * Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta: Diana's mother and Queen of the Amazons.13 * J. K. Simmons as James Gordon: The Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, and close ally of Batman.13 * Ciarán Hinds as the voice of Steppenwolf: An alien military officer from Apokolips who leads an army of Parademons and is searching for the three Mother Boxes held on Earth. The character is described as "old, tired" and trying to find a way to escape his role of servitude under Darkseid.26 Hinds portrayed the villain through use of motion capture and received some advice in the process from Liam Neeson, who had recently done similar work in A Monster Calls.27 After the release of the film, Hinds was reportedly unhappy with the final cut of the film, which trimmed down the backstory and characterization of Steppenwolf.28 The Olympian Old Gods Zeus, Ares and Artemis are portrayed by fitness model Sergi Constance, stuntman Nick McKinless, and MMA fighter Aurore Lauzeral, respectively.2930 All three were required to reach a specific degree of physicality, with Snyder instructing McKinless to sport "veins like worms and paper thin skin". In the finished film, McKinless' face was replaced with David Thewlis's face, and Thewlis received the credit as Ares.29 Robin Wright reprises her role as Antiope during a flashback sequence. Amber Heard portrays the Atlantean Mera.313213 During a scene depicting Steppenwolf's first invasion of Earth, Julian Lewis Jones appears as an ancient king of men, while Francis Magee portrays an ancient king of Atlantis.3334 Joe Morton reprises his role as Silas Stone, Victor Stone's father and S.T.A.R. Labs' head while Billy Crudup appears, uncredited, as Henry Allen, Barry Allen's father. Joe Manganiello and Jesse Eisenberg appear uncredited in a post-credits scene as Slade Wilson / Deathstroke and Lex Luthor, respectively.353637 Michael McElhatton appears as the leader of a group of terrorists who clash with Wonder Woman early in the film,38 while Holt McCallany makes an uncredited appearance as a burglar.39Marc McClure, who portrayed Jimmy Olsen in the Christopher Reeve Superman film series, has a cameo as a police officer.40 An unidentified Green Lantern appears at the beginning of the film, created by use of CGI and embodied by an uncredited actor. Willem Dafoe and Kiersey Clemons filmed scenes as Nuidis Vulko and Iris West, although their roles were cut from the final film. Both actors are signed for multiple films and set to appear in the future installments of the franchise.4142 Dafoe is set to appear in Aquaman and it was reported in November 2017 that the studio wanted to recast Clemons in a different role. Laurence Fishburne, who portrays Perry White in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), said he declined to reprise his role in the film due to scheduling conflicts.43 Early in production, a scene depicting Green Lanterns Kilowog and Tomar-Re visiting Batman was filmed as another post-credits scene, further teasing the upcoming Green Lantern Corps, but the scene was later scrapped.44 In March 2016, producer Charles Roven said that Green Lantern would not appear in any film before Justice League Part Two, and stated that they "could put Green Lantern in some introduction in Justice League 2, or barring that, a movie after."